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Number 20 / Volume 22 / December 23, 2008

For Canadian S&T and R&D, 2008 has been a year of dramatic swings with far more gut-wrenching lows than euphoric highs to rattle even the most battle-hardened veteran. The year began with the high-profile departure of the head of the Canadian Space Agency and the closure of the Office of the National Science Advisor.

Canadian universities have done a poor job of obtaining adequate financial benefit from discoveries made within their jurisdictions, suggests a new study by PARTEQ Innovations to identify the Top 10 technologies generated by Canadian universities.

Sweeping changes made unilaterally to the biggest federal R&D incentive program by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) are being viewed by tax analysts as a significant shift away from an incentive for innovation towards a mechanism for compliance.

The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) has followed up its call for a tech-heavy $60-billion stimulus package with a specific set of actions developed by serial high tech entrepreneur Terence Matthews.

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) is executing an ambitious new strategic plan to expand its range of influence and revive operations that were in danger of becoming detached from the innovation mainstream.

The US appears set to elevate the status of S&T within government and the nation as a whole with the announcement of the team that will advise president-elect Barak Obama. Citing the need for leadership and emphasizing respect for “the integrity of the scientific process”, Obama is making clear that he intends to break with the current administration’s inherent distrust of science and failure to heed the advice of the nation’s top scientists and business leaders.

Ontario’s growing concentration of workers that comprise the so-called creative class may help the province weather the recession better than the previous economic downturn of 1991. Yet members of the creative class in Ontario are paid significantly less than their counterparts in US peer states and are used less intensively by their employers, casting doubt on the ability of Ontario cities to retain them.

CFI makes Leaders Opportunity Fund awards

Precarn to manage six Alberta projects

People

Dr John Holdren

Dr Steven Franklin

Dr Christopher Baker

Dr Jeremy Squire

Mike Williams

Number 19 / Volume 22 / December 12, 2008

Innovation has always been about more than R&D, but without it, companies and societies will find it far more difficult to achieve and maintain global competitiveness. That’s why the data recently release by Statistics Canada should be of concern.

The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program has agreed to a reduction in the time a Network can receive funding from two seven-year terms to two five-year terms except in “special circumstances”, in response a series of sweeping recommendations by an international advisory committee (IAC).

A new study indicates that Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) investments in research infrastructure are helping to increase the number of university spin-offs and attract a higher-than-average proportion of venture capital.

Canada has finally signed a formal S&T agreement with Brazil that could pave the way for a significant boost in high-tech and other trade between the two nations. The agreement is the third Canada has signed recently with an emerging economy following last year’s collaborative pacts with India and China and comes at a time of increased Brazilian interest in investing in Canada.

Statistics Canada has released its final and most substantial collection of R&D data of the year and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. It shows that Canada’s gross domestic expenditures on R&D (GERD) are projected to be virtually stagnant for the third year in a row and are actually in decline when measured in 2002 constant dollars.

The research community supporting one of Canada’s largest and most diverse economic sectors is seeking to enhance its contribution to Canadian innovation and competitiveness by raising its profile with governments and the public.

Less than 5% of experts in Ontario’s mobile content sector believe the province’s wireless industry is a leader in entrepreneurship and innovation, and only 20% agree that Ontario has a solid global hold on data-centric mobile devices, such as the Blackberry, according to preliminary survey results released by the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre.

CSA contributes to ESA, signs MDA contract

Governance endowment created by new foundation

People

Dr Genevieve Tanguay

Denise Amyot

Dr Bruce Archibald

Philip Howell

Number 18 / Volume 22 / November 30, 2008

Those expecting S&T to play a strategic role in stimulating the faltering Canadian economy were likely disappointed with this week’s Throne Speech and economic update. It’s one thing to assert support for a strong knowledge-based society and quite another to back up the rhetoric with effective, targeted programs and adequate financial resources.

The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is entering “virgin territory’ with a new $10-million fund that will purchase equity stakes in early stage and start up technology companies across Canada.

One of the two main prizes awarded this year by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will have ramifications far beyond its recipient. Dr Michael Hayden, the winner of the Michael Smith Prize in Health Research (Biomedical and Clinical Research) has announced that he will leverage the award’s high profile and $500,000 cash prize to establish an endowment for research trainees in four areas that hold profound personal significance.

The Canadian headquartered International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) has reached another key milestone with the launch of its first slate of research projects aimed at cataloguing the genetic abnormalities in tumors from 50 cancer types or subtypes.

Canadian technology transfer activity is experiencing a rapid period of evolution as it adapts to the challenging shifts in technology financing and global competition. The virtual shutdown of the venture capital industry and the current financial meltdown are helping to accelerate the introduction of an ever expanding range of novel approaches and collaborations for taking university-based discovery into the marketplace.

Federal spending on S&T will decline this year for the first time since FY02-03 despite a significant increase in overall government spending. The Statistics Canada report is based on data compiled well before the current financial crisis.

The expansion plans of Canada’s largest life sciences commercialization facility have been thwarted –— at least temporarily — with the suspension of construction on Phase II of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto.

A task force assembled by TRIUMF is telling the federal government to give serious consideration to experimental photo-fission technology for the production of medical isotopes. Photo fission uses low-enriched uranium and small, relatively inexpensive accelerators as opposed to the aging NRU nuclear reactor at Chalk River which is high cost, high maintenance and requires weapons-grade, highly enriched uranium.

GSK endows research chair at Univ of Manitoba

Bell Aliant and PEI launch innovation fund

People

Dr Eugenia Kumacheva

Marie Thibault

Tony Rockingham

Paul Johnston

André Caillé

Number 17 / Volume 22 / November 13, 2008

If it’s true that good ideas bear repeating, then the latest report from the Conference Board of Canada may have hit a bull’s eye. The document is the result of a lengthy process of consultation and examination by a group of industry and institutional leaders and it pitches a handful of technology sectors it contends Canada should aggressively pursue (see page 3).

An international expert panel has concluded that the Conservative government’s plans for Arctic research need to be modified and receive adequate operational funding or risk jeopardizing its scientific program and the region’s long-term value.

Several Ontario academic institutions and a number of wireless and content companies have banded together to form the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre (MEIC), an organization whose goal is to develop a centre of excellence for applied research, design and commercialization in Ontario’s mobile content and services sector.

S&T is back at the Cabinet table after a five-year absence with the appointment of Dr Gary Goodyear as minister of state for science and technology. The reinstatement of the junior ministerial position adds further definition to the Conservative government’s evolving approach to S&T policy and governance with details of the position’s mandate and priorities to be finalized next week.

A re-branded Toronto-based company is seeking $5-7 million in second round financing for a new made-in-Canada technology that can increase ad hits on Facebook and other social media sites by more than 400%.

Peter Morand

Making government R&D more effective
By Dr Peter Morand

As part of its annual benchmarking exercise, the Conference Board of Canada has just released How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada. And once again we find that Canada’s report card “tells the story of a country moving to the back of the class because of its underperformance in almost all subjects.

A new report from the Conference Board of Canada recommends that Canada dedicate greater resources to develop and commercialize a core set of technologies it contends holds the greatest economic potential.

Nortel Networks Corp has instituted another round of cost-cutting and a structural re-organization that sees the elimination of the position of chief technology officer (CTO). Nortel says the moves reflect the growing impact of the “sustained and growing economic downturn” and end the tenure of John Roese, who was hired as Nortel’s CTO in mid 2006 to coordinate and execute Nortel’s overall R&D strategy (R$, July 7/06).

Precarn funds intelligent systems R&D projects

Medizone establishes Canadian foundation

People

Nathalie Des Rosiers

Dr Philip Sherman

Dr Malcolm King

Dr Wayne Grover

Number 16 / Volume 22 / October 29, 2008

It was difficult to find any skeptics or detractors among those who assembled in Montreal earlier this week to participate in the third summit of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP).

Three years after its original conception, the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP) has completed its third and most productive summit, attracting more than 200 high-powered delegates to Montreal to advance discussions on future bilateral research in key technology areas.

The recently created Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI) has struck a $15-million research deal with General Electric’s Water and Process Technologies subsidiary to try and reduce water, energy usage and costs for oil sands extraction by 30%.

Dr David Phipps

Turning research into action
By Dr David Phipps

“We must translate our research findings in the human sciences into public policy and social programs…Knowledge transfer in the human sciences — the transfer of findings into policy and programs — is as important as technology transfer in the engineering and natural sciences.

Canada’s universities are hoping a new dynamic model for capturing the impact of university research will help to persuade the federal government that continuing investment to the country’s future economic and social well being, despite a catastrophic downturn in global financial markets and a looming recession.

The state of Canadian corporate R&D entered a precarious stage in FY07, posting a second consecutive year of aggregate losses that will likely grow in FY08 and beyond as the full extent of the global financial meltdown is realized.

Green IT MOU signed by UBC, Prompt & UC San Diego

People

Marie-Lucie Morin

Dr Lorne Tyrell

John MacInnis

Dr Bruce McNaughton

Jeffrey Dale

Ric Rumble

Number 15 / Volume 22 / October 7, 2008

Canada could be entering a bleak period for R&D. The collapse of the financial markets here and around the world have created a climate of fear in which new or even continued spending on key research and innovation programs are in jeopardy.

The Liberal Party of Canada is pledging more than $1 billion in new funding for university-based research, including massive increases to the base budgets of the granting councils and the indirect costs of university research.

The Ontario government is leading the latest charge to coordinate innovation agendas among the provinces with the view to developing a coherent national strategy that reflects the strengths and needs of all jurisdictions.

Ontario dominates the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking, placing 27 firms including seven in the top 10. Markham ON-based Nightingale Informatix Corp (healthcare service and software) took the top spot with a five-year growth rate of 23,078% — an impressive feat but far off the 42,120% growth rate registered by Sandvine, last year’s overall winner.

Dr Peter Nicholson

Asking more of public R&D institutions
By Dr Peter Nicholson

National innovation policies need to pay greater attention to the role and support of “public research and development institutions”. These are national laboratories and research organizations of various kinds that are neither universities nor divisions of corporations but include pre-competitive R&D consortia of business, academia and government.

The MaRS Discovery District is set to launch the largest commercialization initiative of its kind in Canada for the pooling of intellectual property (IP) from 14 Toronto-based institutions and covering a wide range of largely life sciences-based technologies.

A new report from the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity (ICP) contends that the hollowing out of the Canadian economy is illusory and that government policies to encourage the creation of national champions do not work.

SAIT Polytechnic receives $300 million from province

Canadians rank biotech research highly: survey

People

Dr Kevin Yallup

Dr Pekka Sinervo

Number 14 / Volume 22 / September 19, 2008

The demand for hospital research infrastructure greatly exceeds supply. One of Canada’s most respected entrepreneurs says the high-tech sector is in danger of being shipped offshore. Canada’s innovation system is under severe pressure and there doesn’t appear to be any willingness on the part of our federal elected officials to tackle urgent problems head on.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has announced the winner of its Research Hospital Fund (RHF) more than five years after it was created to deal with a severe shortage of medical research space across the country.

In the days preceding the September 7 election call, the Conservative government made a flurry of S&T related announcements across Ontario and Quebec and into Manitoba, including $75 million from the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) and an additional $80 million in Ford Motor Co’s Renaissance Project.

Industrial R&D is expected to inch up just 1% in 2008, dampening expectations that last year’s 2.7% gain was the beginning of a more substantial recovery and reflecting deepening weakness in Ontario’s manufacturing and services sectors.

The biotechnology industry must change its outdated approach to managing intellectual property (IP) or face increasing legal gridlock and decreasing financial returns, according to a new Canadian study released September 9.

The ongoing collapse of the Ottawa telecom cluster may be the “canary in the coal mine” signaling imminent danger for all Canadian high-tech industries, says a new report authored by Dr Terry Matthews.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has a new president, a proposed new governance structure and marching orders to develop a new Long-Term Space Plan. Dr Steve MacLean takes the reins at the CSA after an extended period of turmoil and strategic drift with a mandate from Industry minister Jim Prentice to make “sweeping changes” to revitalize the embattled agency.

Calgary's Canterris Inc to expand in Waterloo

Ryma receives $7 million in venture financing

People

Susan Baldwin

Christian Sylvain

Daniel Fontaine

Dr Geoffrey Norman

Number 13 / Volume 22 / August 15, 2008

Canada’s role in international science must be improved if the country is to withstand the onslaught of globalization and rapidly expanding economies of nations such as India, China, Brazil and Russia.

Paul Dufour

Alberta’s Foresight and the Need for Over-the-Horizon Thinking
By Paul Dufour

Precisely 25 years ago, I co-wrote a report with Don LeRoy for Canada’s leading research think tank — the Science Council of Canada — on the evolving role of the provincial research organizations and their mandates in support of technology and innovation for Canadian business and society.

The National Angel Organization (NAO) is recommending the creation of a new credit for angel investors and an national angel co-investment fund as part of a package of initiatives to boost the single largest source of capital for seed and early-stage investments and overcome what it says is a $5-billion pre-commercialization funding gap.

One of Canada’s largest scientific associations is calling for a change in direction and funding increases for international science. Measures such as some type of risk capital and the establishment of an International Opportunities Fund would help to enhance Canada’s reputation on the world scene, increasing its innovative status with industry and attracting and retaining top talent.

Adam Holbrook

What is the real return on our research investments in universities?
By J.A.D. (Adam) Holbrook

Policy makers, program evaluators and senior managers in the federal government (and several provincial governments) have, for some time, been pushing research funding organizations and public sector organizations that carry out research to demonstrate the commercial return on their research expenditures.

A modestly funded program designed to stimulate bilateral R&D collaboration between Canada and several other nations is opening up a huge range of possibilities that could prompt the federal government to move aggressively on its Global Innovation Strategy (GIS).

The era of dramatic funding increases in higher education R&D appear to be over. Statistics Canada reports that the total investment in the sector increased just 1.1% in 2006-07 to $9.6 billion. Of the six sectors contributing to higher education R&D, all posted moderate increases over the previous year except for the federal government.

Global expertise in translating regional strengths into innovative businesses and economic development is converging on Halifax next month for the first Canadian-based Technoopolicy Conference. The two-day event will examine best practices and policies for developing regional innovation strategies, with a particular focus on Atlantic Canada and featuring speakers from North America and Europe.

China and NRC to collaborate on canola research

Sequenom certifies McGill genome innovation centre

MITACS applies expertise to infectious diseases

People

Dr Louis Lamontagne

Number 12 / Volume 22 / July 28, 2008

An alarming new report on how successive governments have handled the intellectual property needs of federal laboratories should be a call to arms for major changes in policy or legislation. Sadly, it appears that the Conservative administration is about as likely to affect meaningful change as the Liberals before them.

The Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) has a full slate of assessments under development and is branching out to take on projects outside its base funding agreement, creating stresses and strains that its president says are typical for any start-up.

A new report requested by Health Canada on the regulatory challenges of nanotechnology urges a precautionary approach to assessing risk of new nano-scale materials and products and calls for a strengthening of existing regulatory mechanisms accompanied by a greater investment in risk-related research.

Health R&D expenditures crept up an estimated 3.7% in 2007 but not enough to stop a gradual slide in outlays when measured in constant 2002 dollars. The increase also failed to prevent the health field’s portion of overall Canadian R&D spending from dipping, according to preliminary data from Statistics Canada.

Genome BC is assisting the province’s wine making industry with an international research collaboration to develop tools for enhancing the cultivation, processing and fermentation of wine-making grapes at the molecular and biochemical level.

Canada needs to invest now in R&D and exploration of gas hydrate deposits as it did in the early days of oils sands development if it wants to become a major player in a potential future energy source.

The abrupt termination of the Maple reactor program by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) is being called one of the worst planned and managed R&D projects in Canada’s history and has spawned a major lawsuit by MDS Inc.

UK funds major infrastructure projects

National Research Council joins WorldWideScience.org

People

Dr David Fransen

Dr Rafik Loutfy

Preston Manning

Jeff Kinder

Number 11 / Volume 22 / July 7, 2008

The Canada California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP) has scored its second major victory with the creation of the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium (CSCC) and at least $100 million in funding over five years (see page 3).

Innovative Canadian companies seeking financial support from the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) may have a long wait. The highly lauded business assistance arm of the National Research Council (NRC) has committed all of its funding for the current FY ending March 31/09 and the situation isn’t likely to improve next year unless it receives additional funding.

Several influential research organizations have come together in a consortium to fund collaborative cancer stem cell research between Canadian and Californian scientists — an initiative that will soon be expanded throughout Canada and internationally.

Paul Johnston is stepping down as president and CEO of Precarn Inc and will be replaced on an interim basis by his predecessor, Dr Tony Eyton. Johnston decided not to begin a second five-year term at the helm of the organization which is in the midst of a major shift in strategic direction prompted by the sunsetting of Industry Canada funding in 2010.

A new report gives Canada a failing grade in innovation and warns that the consequences of inaction could place future prosperity at risk. The message was contained in the 12th annual benchmarking report from from the Conference Board of Canada (CBoC), which assigned grades to six elements contributing to overall quality of life: economy, innovation, education and skills, environment, health and society.

Aled Edwards

Drug discovery requires a new paradigm

Editor’s Note: As drug development costs rapidly spiral upwards, the number of new drug approvals continues to drop. The pharmaceutical industry is closing many of its North American R&D clusters and moving to lower-cost jurisdictions.

At least 140 Canadian scientists have released an open letter to the country’s elected government leaders urging them to move more aggressively on the increasing urgent challenges posed by climate change.

Canadian universities are spending an increasing share of their general operating and special purpose funds to cover the costs of research says a new report from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

Canada’s pharmaceutical firms reversed a decade-long slide in R&D intensity in 2007, with a $115-million spike in expenditures that pushed the annual total up 9.8% to $1.274 billion. The upswing was accompanied by a 7.

The federal government should establish a Canadian Competitiveness Council within Industry Canada to help implement a host of proposed measures to enhance Canada’s competitive advantage. The recommendation was one of 65 contained in the eagerly awaited final report of the Competition Policy Review Panel to increase competitive intensity through productivity and business environment enhancements.